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2013.06.30 - I scream, You scream...
It's hot out. There's no denying that. There are many people though currently moving about the great lawn, despite the sweltering heat. A few dark grey clouds drift lazily through an otherwise clear blue sky, bringing with it the possibility of rainfall. The other side of that coin is the increased humidity that makes moving around almost like swimming. Nary a breeze blows causing some of those meandering about Central Park to look as if they'd been running marathons and to droop visibly. A tall rail thin man with jet black haired pulled back to a ponytail with strands falling across his face and dressed in a black t-shirt, black jeans and black shoes with a spotless white apron pushes an antique looking ice cream cart. The thing creaks and groans as he pushes it. He doesn't really look much like an ice cream vendor and he doesn't appear to be trying to sell either. The sharp tangy scent of metal fills begins filling the air, almost like it was being carried by a breeze and yet not a single breeze stirs the leaves of the trees even slightly. The man stops and pulls an antique pocketwatch from his pocket and examines it carefully. He doesn't seem to be doing anything just yet. Dear gods, it was sweltering. Keith had decided to come to the park for a nice stroll... but the heat was getting to him. You think YOU'RE hot? try wearing a fur coat! "Man, maybe we should just go home and go comatose under the AC?" he asks over his shoulder at Patrick. "It's too hot even for crime, I think." Elijah has clambered up into a tree, the homeless youth taking it as shelter from the potential for rain as well as...well, just plain shelter, really. He has a well-thumbed paperback in his hand, eyes easily scanning over the words of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" at a rapid click. He keeps his back braced firmly against the trunk of the tree, only looking up briefly as the ice cream cart passes nearby. Not sensing any panic or distress in the area at the moment, he feels quite content, really, although a bit nervous being outside of his usual haunt in Mutant Town. Cessily? Well, she doesn't sweat, but she can still feel the heat. It pounds down from the sky and flashes off her body as she walks along the path. She lookds down at her phone, then up at the sky. "Great, just great," she mutters. Probably time to go hide inside somewhere....then again, there's always ice cream! Cessily spots the cart and heads towards it. "Hi!" the mutant says happily, "Do you have any ice cream sandwiches?" she asks, pulling her wallet out of her purse. The rising temperatures have seen a certain aspiring actress spending more time in Central Park when she doesn't have a shift waitressing at Anita Bella. Even hot and still as it is, it's still not the compact oven that is Fern's small apartment. Strolling on the grass, in the shade of the trees, she's slipped off her sandals, carrying them hanging from the straps by two fingers. Even out of the direct sun, there still isn't much in the way of coolness offered by the grass. Her attention swivels to take in the ice cream cart, one brow lifting, her free hand automatically going to pat her skirt, to see if there's any money in the pocket. Left by the money fairy, of course, because there hasn't been any put there by herself in quite some time. But, you never know. Before she put her hand in just to make good and sure the pocket is empty, Fern takes note of the unique, silver-skinned young woman who steps up to the cart. Her stare isn't intended to be rude, and bears no hostility, but in her distraction blue eyes do linger a bit too long to be completely polite. Fern looks away quickly, sees a familiar flash of purple, and smiles as she spies her Cheshire friend. Josie comes wandering into the park, dressed for the heat in a tank top and denim shorts. The oppressive heat, or at least the humidity, doesn't seem to be bothering her much, as she seems as energetic as ever as she spots Cessily and runs to catch up to her at the ice cream cart, smiling as she says, "Hey!" The heat is surprising to Elysia, familiar with these temperatures in the south, but not since moving to New York. She has chosen to enjoy a little yoga in the park. Her attire is a pair black yoga shorts with a white 'swoosh' emblem on one leg, a matching athletic bra, and over the bra she has a shred blue t-shirt with the words 'I solmnly swear I am up to no good' practically glowing in a stylized font. She is bent into a position that most would find quite painful as she sits atop a blanket, a huge rolling cooler sitting nearby full of food and drinks with a pile of books by authors like J.K.Rowling, Lewis Carroll, J.M.Barrie, J.R.R.Tolkein, C.S.Lewis, Jules Verne, and H.G.Welles on a a pair of makeshift shelves connected to the handle. She currently has a couple of books splayed out around her, as if reading them all at once... but that is silly... right? Patrick just quirks an eyebrow at the furred man he is with and smirks slightly. "This is not so bad. Arizona in summer was worse, and Madirapor as well." He says with a slight shrug. Today he appears dressed in a simple pair of shorts and a loose blue t-shirt with a large red star on the chest courtesy of his super suit's ability to look like any clothes he wants it to. "If your miserable though we can find a vender that sells cold treats. Maybe someone with frozen yogurt, or possibly a granita?" "Sure thing." The man says with a sleazy smile on his thin lips as he pulls out a ice cream sandwich. "It's on the house." He says as he hands it over,"We'll see if you can enjoy it." He says as he pricks his finger and drops just a touch of blood into the cart. A moment later the cart begins shaking violently, and that's when it happens. A giant creature seemingly made of Neopolitan Icecream climbs out, followed by a chocolate icecream monster, and then finally a vanilla. The Each of the new monstrosities stands a good eight feet tall, with gum drops for eyes, waffle cone bits for their teeth and nose, licorice whips for arms and basically snowman style bottom. "Now go my lovelies! Show the people what happens when you don't treat people properly!" Snapping his fingers the sound of O Fortuna from Carmina Burana begins blaring from hovering gingerbread style speakers with white icing to make the speakers. The monsters begins spreading out attacking trees and people. Despite the heat the monsters don't appear to be being affected by the heat, although they do create cold patches as they go. Keith laughs "Only if you feed it to me while I faint from the heatstroke on your la---" he pauses, "Hey, that's my friend Fern! I've got to introduce you to h---" and there was a silver girl, unusual, and---- monsters. Made of ice cream. What the hell? He looks at the scene for a bit, then finally snaps into hero mode"...I don't know what those things are, but our first priority is to get people safely away from those things-- c'mon, we've got a job to do!" And saying that, he quickly takes off his shirt and jeans to reveal his hero costume underneath--- OF COURSE he was hot!--- and starts running towards the first civilian he sees, his friend Fern. Elijah hears the immediate reaction of people to the inhuman mob spilling out of the ice cream vendor's cart, like something out Roald Dahl's worst fever dream and growing worse by the second. He rolls out of the tree, his paperback forgotten and replaced in his hand by his escrima sticks. Seeing the massive Neopolitan creature looming over some of the smaller denizens (and being more central than the rest, as well), he leaps into the air towards it, bringing his sticks across his body in a slashing motion in what seems to be the general region of its multi-hued face. "Oh, Josie," Cessily says, with just a touch of surprise. "They let you off campus?" she asks, raising her eyebrows slightly. She's not a student anymore, just a graduate and occasional volunteer. "Careful, the big bad city can be a scary place," Cessily says, raising her fingers and waggling them, jazz-hands style. Yup, she did great in Kurt's acting classes. Fern's staring gets a stare back from Cessily. "Can I help you?" she asks with a slightly testy tone. Any further words, though, get swallowed up by the giant ice-cream creatures emerging from the cart. "Oh for..." Cessily declares, waving her arms and rushing back to a reasonable distance, taking on something like a fighting stance. The question from Cessily draws Fern's attention back even as her hand is lifting to wave to Keith. In the splendor of his purpleness, she's not yet noted his companion, and that may be a few ticks before it's remedied. "Oh, no...." she starts, her tone already apologetic, but the words stop as the cart shakes and pours forth with it's frosty beasties. There's a pause, just a beat, as she quite frankly stares now at the creatures, and then comes the rhetorical question, "Really?" Well, it has been a bit quiet for the trouble-magnet of late, she should have expected something. As the monsters make quick work of striking fear into the hearts of the assembled, Fern turns, perhaps about to bolt in a moment of self-preservation. But there are kids around, and she can't just scamper. She drops her sandals and moves to her left, reaching to grab a little girl away from the tasty looking (ish) strawberry/vanilla/chocolate creature, even as someone else leaps toward it. Josie nods quickly and smiles, "My dad lives here in the city, so I can come out on some weekends. Especially since I gotta talk to my dad about whether I'm staying at school for the summer. But it was too hot to stay in today." She doesn't seem scared as the ice cream monsters appear either, just blinks, doing a quick backflip to get out of striking range before she comments, "First Condiment King, now ice cream monsters?" Maintaining one's calm is paramount for Yoga, and despite her inclination for motion and activity, Elysia was doing a really good job of maintaining her calm... her inner peace allowing her to slow herself and bring herself to a serenity of being, a state of self-awareness to live and be in just the moment... and then icy screams of terror chillingly shattered that... or is that the Ice Creams of Terror? Either way, she begins to jitter a bit, and thought becomes movement, as her books seem to almost by themselves close and re-shelve themselves. Anyone within about a few dozen meters might get surprised by a brief but crisp breeze being stirred up, and a electric tingle like the static in the air before and after a lightning strike. Seconds later, were anyone watching, Elysia is gone, her blanket folded up on the smaller bottom shelf, the clear hard plastic cover over the shelves closed and locked along with the cooler section, and all of it secured to a tree with a handfl of bicycle chains... Then Hyper appears, electrical arcs sparking all around her... she looks at the ice cream monsters and shouts, "Freeze!!! Lets everyone just chill here. There is no reason for anyone to be sent to the cooler. I'm sure everything can be churned out and we can go about our lives peacefully." perhaps she's been practicing the heroic witty remarks? She vibrates and bolts around a lot, trying to fully know where all the civilians and threats are, as well as at least one oddly familar form... she amost pauses to greet Cessily before realizing she is in costume and the silver girl probably wouldn't recognize her... or worse... would. Bolting back so she has a wall of after images standing in front of the chocolate monster. Patrick smirks at Keith again and is about to comment when suddenly there is a subject change in the form of Fern. "I...hmm, that is the nice woman I met in the park a little while ago." He might say more, but then there is chaos, and not the kind caused by Vorpal. "Maybe later on the treats." As Vorpal jumps into action the auburn haired man he was with seems to disappear. It could just be the chaos of people running from the ice cream monsters, or a trick of the eye that made it look like that though. Seconds later as one of the creatures looks like it is going for a citizen there is a *thwip* *thwip* and a pair of web lines come out of nowhere to try and grab the creature and keep it from going any farther forwards. At the end of the web lines appear, no not the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, the Iron Spider. The less friendly crimson clad spider holds onto the web lines with his hands and then yanks, hoping to bring the creature flying towards him for a punch in the fa...in the head. The monsters are attacking people as much as they can although they haven't hit any civilians. When attacked all that seems to happen is the sticks make a mess of the face sending chunks flying. They take their lumps and swing at the heroes as much as they can. When Patrick tries to pull one of the monsters to him for a face punch, he instead gets a just two big chunks of ice cream the size of bowling balls. When damaged they begin reforming, and on top of that, the chunks pulled off pulse as if coming to life as well. THe man dressed in black sits himself down on a chair made of candy. He's currently encapsulated in a giant bubble. The cat narrows his eyes as he lands in front of Fern. "Fern, behind me!" he says, trying to keep her and the child safe. Seeing Patrick's results, he snarls "They reproduce when sectioned off!" he calls out, his voice resonating all over the park. "Cage them, trap them, do NOT hit them!" And he summons up a construct- a glowing hollow cube shaped like a box, which he attempts to drop on the monster attacking them--- with a glowing anvil following right on top to smash the box down and keep it trapped. "Here's hoping this works-- damnit, if only we had a firestarter here!" Cessily's dropped her purse as she's the fight scene starts to go down. Can't really go holding that when you're readjusting yourself. Cessily stretches her arms, reforming them into long blades, which she uses to slice hard at one of the monsters, hoping to cut right through it. "I think we can manage!" she calls, ducking a chunk of ice cream that goes sailing over her. "Hey, get out of here!" she calls to a couple that's frozen in place, and started taking pictures rather than getting clear. Elijah lands and rolls a few feet away from Fern and the child as he blasts through the face of the Neopolitan monster, his front smeared with a soak of ice cream (which is at least quite cooling, given that the homeless hero is quite overdressed for the temperatures). Seeing the woman and kid in danger, along with...wait, is that a Cat Person? It's certainly an assertive one, if it is! He moves quickly to join with Keith's efforts, taking up guard on the other side to try and shield off Fern and the kid from further harm. While he cannot do much to cage or trap, he can at least spin his sticks with a swirling, almost rotary speed, reducing them to mere droplets that spatter behind the chunkier bits. Fern gets her arm around the little girl's waist and yanks her back a second before Keith lands. Her bid to get behind the Cheshire, as instructed, goes awry when she's hit in the side of the head by the projectile meant for the agile Cessily. "Hey!" she yells, spinning instinctively toward the source. It might have been graceful, if not for the girl Fern is attempting to help throwing off her balance. The pair spill to the ground and in her bid to not land on the smaller child, Fern is rewarded by taking the full weight of the girl to her solar plexus. She groans, letting the girl go and giving her a nudge away as she barely gets out, "Run." Thankfully, the girl is quick to obey, and smart enough to stay low and avoid the frosty missiles. Fern decides it's a good moment to lay on her back and look at the clouds for a second, since she can't breathe. It might be a good thing she can't, actually, because she would likely be complaining about the ice cream that's run into her ear. Her mini break gives her a second to notice that there's someone else beside Keith, who she assumes must be the blur she saw launching at Polly. Which is what she's just named the Neopolitan monster in her head. Josie, once she's dodged a few monster attacks, agile enough to do so even though it seems entirely natural ability, changes direction and focuses on the man in the bubble. She runs closer and then suddenly she's water, splashing to the ground and her clothes falling there. Hoping nobody takes them, she starts to flow into the soil, letting herself sink into the ground, inadvertantly turning it into mud, as she tries to find a way to slip underneath the bubble and get at the man. She can't quite place where she met the Cat guy before... Hyper knows it was some time in the past, but maybe they weren't formally introduced, but his observations seem sound, and she waited long enough for the creatures to respond to her attempts at talking, so under her breath she says, "Plan A, Active Anti-Aggression Assuagement Attempt for peaceful resolution... no good. Plan B, Brutal Bombastic Bludgeoning... previous attempts by others prove this plan is not viable. Plan C, Combustible Containment... worth a try.". She seems to flicker and then several paths of stones with dried sticks and leaves as well as some other flammable refuse from around the park seem to flank the course being followed by the chocolate creature, and with plenty of room to allow it to advance or retreat before finding the end, she smiles and spins her hand at high speed near a slightly larger pile of stuff at one end, triggering sparks to cascade around her hand and hopefully light her flaming caged in path concept. She looks to the Cat guy and smiles, "Sometimes Firestarting only requires a bit of ingenuity and the proper application of scientific principle. Hopefully this works, cause they don't seem affected by the ambient temperature" Iron Spider dodges the bowling ball sized ice cream bits he pulled off a monster. "That is less than optimal." He watches the disconnected bits as they start to pulse and then uses the fact that they are still on web lines to swing them around and splat them into the ground. Maybe that will keep them from growing new ones. Doing a quick scan of the area he spots the man in the the giant bubble and hmms. Odds are he can't get in that bubble, but maybe someone else here can. "Vorpal! The man with the candy chair!" He yells out and points in the direction of whom he is assuming is the cause of the chaos. That done he moves to try and seal up the monster he had taken chucks out of in a webbing cocoon. The neopolitan ice cream monster is contained and squashed. However, keeping it in that form is a bit like holding a cat still. The other two actually pull chunks of itself and throw themselves at Iron Spider, Vorpal and Hyper. The stuff on Elijah's sticks actually beginning to grow increasingly heavy, and trying to flow up his arms. The creatures are apparently able to alter their viscosity and get colder. Sitting in his chair, the man smiles,"You're all going to suffer for what you've done! Feel the cold and the wrath of the ice cream!" As Cessily slices and dices the vanilla, the vanilla clings to her body and feeling like it weighs over 100 pounds. As for the chocolate monster it actually drips over the flames, makes them sizzle. It's not clear what's happening, but it seems to be clear. The cat snarls, seeing what is going on. "Get rid of the stick, kid...it's no use..." at Iron Spider's words, he focuses on the candy man and tries to Sidestep--- but nothing happens. "His bubble keeps teleporters away. We need to-gah!" Seeing his partner in the trajectory of projectiles, he acts quickly, conjuring up two small walls to intercept the projectiles directed at himself and Spider-- this causes the anvil to dematerialize--- since Hyper seems fast enough to dodge. "Spider, cover Fern... I'm going Dramatic." And with that, the Cheshire cat grins and becomes completely invisible, making his way towards the bubble. Once there, he conjures up an illusion to wrap around the surface of the bubble--- something that looks like the current reality, so there is no discernable shift. In the image, however, the battle is going differently. Cecily is completely buried and Hyper fails to dodge the projectiles, causing her to fall back and crack her head rather hard on the pavement where she lays perfectly still as ice cream oozes over her body, covering her up. The Iron Spider moves to cover Fern, but he falls to a volley of ice cream that gets into his suit and brings him down to the floor. And then there are Fern's screams. Elijah is luckily gifted with quite a bit of superhuman strength, the increasing weight not proving much of an impediment, but he does, nonetheless put his sticks aside, freeing himself from some of the spreading grip of the ice cream. Shaking it off as best he can, he kneels down next to Fern and the kid, trying to instruct them with gestures. He holds his arms out in a loop and gestures towards his neck, then makes a leaping figure with his fingers, trying to suggest Fern and the girl grab onto him and he'll leap them out of this chaotic mess. There seem to be plenty of fighters focused on the demonic ice cream vendor, he'll focus on protecting the innocents, his physical power ensuring that no ice cream grip will be strong enough to prevent his escape with Fern and her charge...he hopes. Mercury swings her arms through the Vanilla monster, blades cutting through nice and deep....but then they stick, as if she's cutting into glue. "Ohmygo..." she starts to say, thanking hard and trying to free herself, finding the monster holding her pretty solidly. ""Let go!" she snaps at it, as if that would convince it to so so. The silver woman's body melts, going loose and becoming something like a puddle, as Cessily flows and tries to encase the ice cream monster with her own amorphous body. Maybe the heat of the day and the metal of her body will make the chamber like an oven. Maybe. If she's lucky! When Fern finally manages to draw in a breath the pain in her chest immediately rolls her over. Drawing her knees under herself, she pushes up with her arms, coming to a sit on the ground. There are tears in her eyes as she looks up, brought by the pain of the fall, and she sees a watery ninja. Of course. That also explains the pantomime, because everyone knows ninjas don't talk. A glance assures her that the girl kept moving, so NinjaDude will only have one bystander to worry about. Or... bysitter. She knows when she might be more a hindrance than a help, so Fern takes the wordless instruction, pushing up, swinging her arms around the stranger's neck. Well, one arm, because as the ice cream that hit her head feels a little more... slithery than ice cream ought to, she brings her other hand up to swipe at it. Aside from the gasping to gain air, Fern is as quiet as her ninja savior. She takes a quick look around, registering things but not yet processing them fully, and she sees the Spider. It doesn't look like Ben's suit, and it's clearly not the one that other guy wears. Another SpiderDude? Josie had, in a sense, been trying to sneak up on the bubble, so now the illusion surrounds it she raises up from the mud underneath it and reaches up, starting to poke with a tendril of water at the bottom of the bubble, trying to see what it's made of and if there's a way in. There is a momentary pause, all of a fraction of a second, before Hyper vibrates, her side to side movement to allow her to reach full speed while using her own motion to cancel out the concussive shockwave that would radiate out, only a thundercrack echo of her layers of sonic booms sounding her reaching mach sixty something... At this speed everything is practically stationary to her, and she begins to take advantage that fire needs time to burn you and ice needs time to freeze you, grabbing flaming debri from the kindling and fuel she put in the fire, trying to fuully wrapping flying ice cream projectiles completely in flaming newspaper, and cover the chocolate creature entirely in flaming sticks, leaves, fast food wrappers, and pieces of cardboard. Perhaps, if all goes well, the chocolate creature and the projectiles will get to full experience what Mercury did... the peaceful state of melting... and will so adore it that they will remain serene motionless puddles of melted peace. Just in case she moves the rock surrounded flames from the back to make contained campfires for all the projectiles to land in. She considers trying to clear Fern's ear, but decides better of it, since even a slight mismovement at sonic or greater speeds could do massively more damage to the ear and brain of Fern with the resonance shockwaves then even an accidental poke with a stick or cotton swab would at far lower speeds. Though she does hope that Fern's proximity getting larger will perhaps cause whatever is animating the foodstuffs to lose its grip on that little bit. Iron Spider is at least in his element in a fight, even if the fight is with Ice Cream Elementals. As the monsters start throwing bits of themselves at him he goes into dodge ball mode. Showing off moves that would make Spider-man and Neo proud he avoids getting hit. Lets hope anyone filming this is using a high speed camera so that they can slow that bit down and give it a good bullet time effect. With Vorpal telling him to cover the girl on the ground there is little other choice that the spider has. With a quick leap, and a flip, he bounces over to cover her, as well as Elijah now that he is there as well. The Chocolate and vanilla merge together and becoming a chocolate and vanilla godzilla, it even lets out a roar but then it just collapses in a giant pool of liquid chocolate and vanilla, and the neopolitan ice cream monster also melts. The reason isn't the illusion distracting him. It's the fact that he felt something poke his bubble from the ground. The demented candyman lets out a girlish scream and jumps up on to the top of his chair,"What's that?!" He squeals as he keeps himself perched there. At the poke and the scream, the cat gives a smirk. He disbands the illusion, and he appears out of thin air. "Guess the old methods are still the best..." he says, and holds out his hand-- a very large, glowing purple baseball bat appears. "King Candy, you're past your due date." The cat winds back and swings the bat at the bubble with all of his considerable strength. The tendril proved that the bubble could be affected... and by golly, he was going to affect it. Elijah isn't particularly comforted by the giant metal spider person leaping close by. Rather than wait and see how things turn out, even as the wash of heat starts to melt the ice cream away, he leaps, his superhuman strength carrying him fifty or sixty feet, one hand gripping tight around Fern's wrist to keep her from slipping away, trying to angle his body so that any shockwave coming off of Elysia's actions impacts him instead of her, that massive rumble of power thankfully getting farther away as they fly through the air, finally landing with a thump, rapidly healing microfractures blasting through his wrists and ankles before being bound together again through his connection to the life of the city. He makes no sound through any of this, but there's a slight shudder as the pain impacts him, palpable to Fern clinging to his back, the hooded man gazing back and wondering at the fate of the Ice Cream man and his bubble, now surrounded and without his stone cold Coldstone allies. Well that utterly failed! Too involved, apparently, no time to work things out. The ball of liquid metal warps and reshapes itself, turning back into Cessily ont eh far side of the fight. She shakes her hair and glares, looking focused and she takes off at a run towards the candyman. Candy Man? There's a song and dance number just waiting to happen. Cessily's arms reform into blunt clubs and she takes a swing at him as soon as she's in range. As Elijah leaps Fern finds her voice, letting out a surprised but thankfully not ear-shatteringly loud squeak and thoughts of the weird feeling of the ice cream flee as she swings her other arm around to clutch at the ninja. Hyper is noted by the waitress as a sudden breeze in the previously still day, too fast to be seen by Fern's unexceptional eyes. By virtue of having been in a similar situation with an elf that hops through a hell dimension, Fern is nearly an old pro at clinging for dear life without choking the life out of someone. Still, that shudder is felt, and she's quick to release her grip on Elijah, sliding down his back until her feet touch the ground and she wobbles as her balance catches up to her. "Sorry," she gasps, her attention on him until her eyes curiously follow his gaze, and she sees Keith getting ready to knock it out of the park. Josie would probably be giggling if she could, at the 'candy man's' reaction to her poke. Seeing the others lining up attacks on the bubble, she spreads out, 'punching' up with multiple tendrils of water, from slightly different directions, as she tries to distract the man from noticing the likely far more effective attacks coming from the others. Motion becomes a pause as Hyper is surprised by the all to sudden shft in structure, but then she is off, and... wait... there is the song... it is Christina Aguilera's Candy Man... as it would sound being played by musical Tesla Coils, just without the lyrics. Hyper joins in the barrage, her musical electricity crackling fists and feet flying so fast that she could fit in in one of theose fighting games with the hundred hand slaps and lightning kicks. She is tempted to sing along, after all, she is pretty sure the whole reason her electricity make the music is because of unconscious reactions to the trillions of thoughts that race through her head, and somewhere in her head she thought of the song... Well, at least after the similarities to a Willy Wonka disaster, she didn't think of that old Movie with Gene Wilder and think of the more classic Candyman Song they used in it... or worse... that creepy psychedelic song Wilder sang himself during the Wonkatania ride. The shrieking man, and the melting ice cream monsters gets Iron Spider to just pause and stare. It is just possible to imagine a bemused look on the face of whoever is inside the costume, or possibly just a blank look given who it is inside there. Had he more of an ego there might be an annoyance at fighting a villain whose screams like a little girl when a simple water tentacle probes the bottom of his force field, as it is he was trained never to underestimate even the most c rung of c rung villains cause even they get luck some times. The odd music playing in the air does not make this whole scene any less strange to Iron Spider, which given who he dates and his back story the fact that he is finding the whole thing just out there strange is saying a lot. Attack after attack, and the bubble twists and bends at first, the candyman being thrown around inside of it, apparently not immune to the shockwaves. "HEY! Stop that! This isn't the way things are supposed to go!" Then there's another squeal as the bubble launches itself into the air at nearly the speed of sound. THe ice cream is left behind and there's a nice radiating breeze now, the coolness of the ice cream spreading outwards, bringing the entire Central Park area down to a nice comfortable 75 degrees Fahrenheit or around 24 C. Oh and there's a cart of ice cream that still has ice cream in it for people who want it. "... I've had enough of ice cream. What the HELL was that?" Keith says, his bat vanishing and then he looks around for both the man he is dating and Fern to make sure they're ok, before looking at the other people that intervened so that perhaps introductions may be made. Elijah watches as the ice cream demon disappears up into the sky, pulling his hood back a bit to take in the cooling breeze, his brown hair ruffling a bit with the feel of it. In the process, the masking over his face falls down too, reveavling him to be what he is, a fairly handsome young man...except, of course, for that hint of scarring, the lingering marks of burning that linger on the flesh of his throat. Realizing they're exposed, Eli quickly re-adjusts his scarf, making sure they're covered but otherwise leaving his face out. He smiles at Fern, trying to be re-assuring, although also a bit unsure of what to do now... And....it's over. The monsters melt down, sending a wave of coldness out. Cessily melts again and flows to her purse and clothes, rising back up more or less properly dressed. "Crazy magic man?" Cessily suggests to Keith, not actually knowing him. "Are you okay?" she asks, going over to Josie's side. Gotta watch out for the kids, after all. Fern takes a step backwards as the bubble suddenly shoots up into the air, wobbling again as it pretty much just disappears. She reaches absently, snagging Elijah's sleeve for a moment before she steadies and her hand falls away. "Huh." Her eyes drop to her temporary protector, somewhat de-ninja'd, and his reassuring smile is returned. "Thank you," she says simply The sudden temperature change in the area gets a light shiver, goosebumps rising on the young woman's bare arms before she wraps them around herself. "So, that was weird." All things considered, she doesn't seem particularly damaged by what's happened, and she casts a glance around for her abandoned sandals, noting everyone around more fully. Josie flows back to where her clothes were left behind, lifting them up and reforming fully dressed much like Cessily did, though it takes longer for her. She's not as practiced in that trick. She grins, though, when she's back to normal and says, "Yep, I'm fine." Yes, Ice Cream is usually considered empty, fattening calories, but there is some nutritional value, and right now Hyper could use all the fattening calories she can can get. She feels like she hasn't eaten in hours, which for her is like most people having not eaten in over a week. She actually rushes to the ice cream cart and is picky, sticking chocolate, some vanilla, and stuff with nuts and built in waffle cones or cookie portions, so she is getting more then just lard and dairy. She balls the wrappers and sticks from the almost instantly gone food, before pausing to look around, wiping her lips. Now that she is refreshed a bit, she can take a moment to meet and greet before she needs to poof and give her other identity a chance to recover her stuff. Iron Spider just shakes his head. This is hands down one of the odder fights he has been in and he is ready to just move one. Which is exactly what he does. Now that the ice cream beasts are gone, and the guy controlling them has escaped, he makes a note to E-mail a after action report on it to the police with attached video. He spots the purple furred cat looking around and gives him a noncommittal wave, or at least a vague hand gesture of some kind to show off that he is ok and then vanishes from sight. He does not have much of a secret ID, but what little he has he is going to try and protect, sort of. It is not long after the end of the fight as things start to go back to as normal as they get in New York a certain auburn haired young man that had been walking with the purple cat makes his appearance again. He comes running out of a close enough hiding spot to make a plausible place he could have been headed for Keith. "Keith, are you ok? He asks looking him over. "That was...what exactly was that?" Elijah nods in agreement with Fern, but shrugs and puts out his hands, palms up in a "Whatcha gonna do?" gesture, then waves a hand at the rest of the city proper, trying to indicate that it's just a consequence of living in this crazy, mixed up town. Seeing that Fern is all right and the immediate danger seems to be repaired, he puts his palms together and bows towards her, wishing her well, and starts to stroll back towards the tree and the site of the battle, hoping to retrieve both his escrima sticks and his Dostoevsky without too much hassle. "Hm, Magic Candy Man indeed.. hello, I am Vorpal..or Keith.. I-- Patrick!" the cat says, playing into the farce. He gives him a hug and a nuzzle "Thank goodness you're alright. I'm fine, don't worry about me... Fern??" he waves at Fern to come to him, taking a notice of Elijah, to thank him for helping protect his friend. "I'm sorry, I am afraid I didn't catch your name?" he asks J. "Good," Cessily tells Josie," I don't think anybody did got hurt, did they?" she asks. "What was the point of that?" she muses aloud. "Like....is he trying to depress ice cream sales?" she asks, and then flails her arms in vague frustration. She casts a faintly curious look at Elysia....she looks familiar, but she's not coming up with a name. "Hi Keith," she says to the....cat? Maybe she's on a sugar high? Josie shakes her head to Cessily, "I don't think anybody did, which is good." She looks back up to Keith then and smiles, and introduces herself, "I'm Undine. Or Josie, whatever. Nice to meet you." Fern seems to get the gist of the gestures, grinning as she gives it the voice he cannot. "That's life in the big city." Elijah's bow is returned with a nod, blue eyes holding on him until her name is called. She turns, hand coming up in a wave, "Keith! And hey, lunchbox dude," she adds, recognizing Patrick. "I'm ok," is volunteered, "except for ice cream in my ear." In a rather puppy-like and not very flattering move, she shakes her head, then tilts it, knocking the heel of one hand lightly on her noggin to dislodge the now just annoyingly sticky former monster. "Ugh." She steps toward the little band of heroes, glancing back at Elijah, unsure whether to join them when they might be talking.... hero stuff. "Josie... Undine, nice, I like it." He grins and suddenly profers a card at her "...This is my number an email. Let's get together sometime and talk shop? I'm afraid the police might be here soon and I have to stay to give my declaration. I'm registered, but I imagine those who aren't might want to not be here when they come by..." he looks over at Fern and he blinks "Wait... you know my boyfriend?" he says, surprised at Fern calling him lunchbox dude. Keith did that, darnit. Elijah looks a bit confused as he's addressed, used to being largely skated over by the eyes of others. Kind of becomes par for the course for the homeless. He hears the other introduce themselves and raises a hand in greeting. When asked his name, he does actually sign, "Eli" and adds in, "I don't suppose there's any chance anyone here knows how to sign?" hopefully. He also mouths those words along, for any good lip readers, but his inoperative voice box, of course, carries none of that in anything remotely resembling an audible fashion, just good old fashioned breathing. He seems a bit wary of all the sociability, trying to be polite and friendly, but also keeping his eyes open for his sticks and his book. Patrick smiles, and accepts the nuzzle and the hug. It is all part and parcel to dating an affectionate feline. "No obvious injuries where I could see them. At least as far as interruptions go it beats a date ending a little early because someone is trying to blow up a major financial institution." When Fern arrives he fixes her with his best knee melting grin and gives a small wave. "Hello, and that is Patrick. Although I can see why you might forget, it was just the one time meet." He offers the same grin and wave to the other heroes congregating around. "Super strange," Cessily adds, looking around the group. She's playing wallflower for the moment, not usually something the metal girl can get away with anymore, her hands clasped lightly behind her back and shifting her weight. Eli gets her attention and Cessily frows. "Damn i...." she pulls her hands up and signs, incredibly poorly, 'Hello' and then she spells out her name, with pauses between each letter as she tries to recall them all. Having finished her Ice Cream refresher, Hyper smiles and waves around, "Nice to meet you all, I'm known as Hyper. Looks like most things are fine now, so I probably should be running." she, like Patrick, intends to give herself a bit of plausible deniability, and then in a burst of motion she zips around, cleaning up most of the mess, including her wrappers and sticks, and disposes of them in recepticles all around, and then in a woosh of wind and crackling staticy energy, Hyper is gone. From the tree where the cooler is still chained, Elysia climbs back down, sticks and twigs in her hair, her clothes a bit disheveled, but probably what most people would expect from a girl who'd been hiding in a tree the whole time. She slowly looks around and trembling pulls the key out to unlock her stuff, "Is... is everything okay now? Is it over?" she almost seems shaken and nervous. She looks over and meekly waves to Cessily, "Hey, you're the Silver girl who was with me on the tour at the Academy of Tomorrow, right? Cecila something or other?" with a gulp she pauses, "Um... I may not look it, but I sort of eat when I'm nervous. Anyone, especially our heroic saviors, want to join me for a picnic?" starting to pull the large blanket out from its shelf. Patrick sees Elijah and grins as he fishes a pair of glasses out of nowhere to put on while he starts to sign. The glasses are not really necessary to see, but made of part of his suit are a good way to use the HUD and cheat at certain things. Accessing the ASL data base he downloaded thanks to another person he met that does not speak he does a quick translation and finds what he needs to respond. Speaking out loud and signing at the same time he says, "I know a little, but I am not very good." After a second he adds. "If you are looking for your Escrima it is over there." He has to spell out escrima, but after that he points in the direction of the weapons. Josie smiles back to Keith and says, "Thanks." She takes the offered card, looks at it and then nods quickly, "Ok! I'll email you, for sure." She pockets the card and then looks back to Elysia at the offer of a picnic. But, Keith's words about the police seem to be sinking in, "Sorry, that'd be cool but I.. I better go." She's definitely not registered. Your boyfriend?" Fern tosses back at Keith, grinning before it shifts to Patrick. "I remember. Good to see you again." Before she quite reaches the group she stumbles. "Ow!" She crouches, her hand dropping to grab something in the grass, and she stands, looking curiously at the sticks in her grasp. "Someone lose something?" is asked as she looks around and holds them up even as Patrick points toward where she stands. "Cessily! Yes. You're....something with a Y. Alyssa?" Cessily says, humming a bit. She shifts her bag and reaches into it, pulling out a tablet which she flips oen and offers to Elijah. "Don't worry, I won't put you in my statement if you don't wish me to, I was unregistered too" The cat gives Josie a smile. Keith looks at Patrick taking over, no doubt with his suit's abilities, and nods at the pointing and Fern's stumbling. "I guess this is what our friend is looking for. Thank you for protecting my friend here..." he says towards Elijah, offering his card. Elijah smiles gratefully to both Cessily and Patrick, as they seem to be able to understand him. "It is all right," he responds to Patrick, trying to slow things down so Cessily, who's obviously more hesitant in her signing, can read as well, "I just did not want to be rude. I, too, should not be here when police arrive." As Fern stumbles over the stick Patrick points to, he walks over and extends a hand to take it, making a relatively easy to read 'thank you' gesture. The stick itself is rather elaborate, with religious symbology stamped up and down the length. When he reaches out, a thick, pucked scar can be seen on Elijah's wrist. He normally keeps them hidden, but was distracted by Cessily's offer, which he declines politely, knowing he can't stay long if the police are coming...and if there's anyone else who needs him tonight, taking Keith's card with a smile. Patrick nods at Fern as she grins and asks her question. "Yes, his boyfriend." He nods at Elijah and then frowns a little at the scars trying to place what would cause ones just like that on his wrists. The markings on the stick gave even Fern the clue she needed that it wasn't just some trash laying around, and she looks over at Elijah's approach, his outreached hand. The stick is returned to it's owner, the scar noted as Fern glances down to hand it over. Curious but not intentionally rude, she doesn't make it obvious that it's been noticed. And she gets distracted as it sinks in that the police had been mentioned. "Oh hey," she turns to Keith, "I don't really want to be here for this. I mean, I'm not wanted or anything," she hastens to add. She just gets into more trouble than she thinks can be lightly explained away if her name shows up on papers too many times. The young woman casts her eyes around again, looking for her sandals and spying them a few steps away. Keith nods "I understand Fern. Let's meet for lunch at some point and we can talk. At least you got to see me in action, what little there was of it." He grins and looks at Elijah. "Can you tell my boyfriend here where I can find you? It's always good to establish connections." Booster helped him establish contacts when he first came out of the woodwork, he wanted to continue that trend with the young heroes he hadn't met. There is a moment as Elysia realizes everything that is going on, "Hey, anyone that wants to stay, we can just tell the authorities about non-specific heroes. No need for each of you to flee. I'll vouch that anyone who wants to say they were hiding in the tree with me was there too." she then smiles and signs, obviously more then familiar with the gesture based laguage. She looks to Cessily, "Close enough, it is Elysia. Just a tand less emphasis." she smiles and begins to pull out tupperware containers with fried chicken, corn souffle, quiche lorraine, macaroni and cheese, vegatable lasagna, chicken and spinach manacotti, chicken mushroom alfredo, crawfish ettoufee, pecan pie, triple chocolate overload cake, tiramasu, and pitchers of homemade strawberry lemonade, wild berry iced tea, iced mocha coffee, plus looks like she has some bottled water and soda as well inside. Cessily takes the table back, tucking it in her bag. "Okay, right, cool. Good to see you," Cessily says to Elysia. She heads towards the picnic space and her eyes widen. "Were you expecting a party?" she asks, dropping down on her knees on the blanket. "No ice cream, I guess?" Elijah takes the stick from Fern, tugging his sleeve up when he realizes his scar is showing, but not making a fuss about it, done more to protect others from the sight than himself from embarassment. He isn't used to socializing much, but his eyes widen at the sight of all of the food laid out before them all. He considers them for a long moment, and sits down at the edge of the picnic, taking a bottle of water, as he looks very simply at Elysia and signs, "Please, if there is any of this left over, may I gather it and take it with me? I know many who are hungry," he says, taking only a small portion for himself. Raised in an ascetic environment, this amount of food for so few people seems...sinful, but he takes great care not to judge, simply asking politely and willing to accept a denial. Josie grins and says, to Keith, "Thanks." She looks to Elysia and bites her lip a moment. The food does look tempting, after all. She grins then and says, "Ok, then, I can pretend to be normal I think. Thanks." She, too, moves to sit down at the picnic. "Can't stay long, though. My dad'll freak as soon as he hears about what happened here." Patrick nods at everyone. "If it is best most, or all, of you don't speak with the cops we can go to them as they show up. With Keith as a registered hero he can at least give them the information and you can all pretend to just be here on a picnic." He does not like telling the cops lies entirely, although he can understand protecting identities and such and even back home where he is technically fully registered it is not like he would be giving the cops information, or that they would have any chance to see his after action reports given his existence is in certain ways classified information. Snagging her sandals, Fern doesn't bother to put them on, but she turns and waves to those remaining, looking a bit wistfully at the picnickers. "Take care, all. Keith, call me, we'll get together." She walks backwards for a few steps, her balance apparently returned, before she turns and weaves through the crowd, making a hasty departure before the sirens can even be heard in the air. Keith smiles at Fern and waves at the others "Right, then... time to go and do the registered thing. I hate giving statements, they do take forever..." the cat takes Patrick's hand and heads off towards the entrance where the cops are coming. Cessily looks up at Patrick, crinkling her brow a touch, "The Police are here to protect us, you know," Cessily says to him. She presses her lips together and hummms, looking over Elysia's spread. "So what got you out to the academy?" she asks, and then she waves at the departing people. Not wanting to admit that the cooler is actually just her after yoga meal, Elysia decides to play it off, "Not exactly, I know some people who have really fast metabolisms, and one or two of them was going to be coming here, so I packed to handle their needs. And no, no Ice Cream, though I think that cart over there still has plenty. That fast girl that left didn't look like she ate it all, maybe not even half of it." pointing to the left behind ice cream cart." she then looks to Elijah and smiles, . She then nods to Patrick, "Yeah. We can mention the speedster, did any of you catch her name? And just be general about everyone who doesn't want to be known about." Elijah smiles his thanks to Elysia, taking a relatively small portion nonetheless, his own penance to attend to as much as out of deference to his hungrier compatriots. "Thank you," he signs simply to Elysia, waving goodbye to those who depart and, in due time, slipping away himself, leaving Elysia with the address of a mission on Staten Island on a sheet of paper torn from a notebook, tucked into an empty tupperware of Mac 'n' Cheese (a favorite that his mother made for him, he couldn't resist). Category:Log